As much as people like to believe their purchasing decisions are more rational than emotional, sales are often based more upon how a customer feels than how good a fit is a product or service. Those feelings will have something to do with the products or services being purchased of course, but they also have a lot to do with feelings towards the retailer. So it behoves retailers to build strong relationships with their customers and the best way to do that, is to get to know them, individually. This is the reason why Clienteling, the art of personalising customer experiences, is one sales associates should adopt.

One of the biggest challenges with getting to know someone is ensuring that you start off on the right foot – quickly identifying who you are talking to really helps but there are many different ways of doing that. It helps to adjust your conversation to relate better to the customer you’re talking to based on age or where they come from, but this can be tricky as looks can often be deceiving. It is safer much easier to use the information given to you from the customer – rather than make an assumption based on superficial impressions. The more data you possess about a person, the more accurate your picture of who they are. Nonetheless, figuring out as much as you can, quickly, is still an advantage.

Understanding the personality traits of a customer

Fortunately, people have been studying human psychology for a while now, and a sort of consensus has been reached about the different personality types a sales associate should be familiar with, to help them quickly understand how best to approach the customer they have only just met. Although more types have been suggested, most of the customer personality models describe four. You’ll see them called different things in different places, but whatever they’re called, more or less the same four types of personalities are described by all of them.

There’s the thinker or owl, who wants to do thorough research before making a purchase. There’s the dominator or rhino, who can sometimes appear rude or aggressive when they don’t mean to, they simply want to cut to the chase as fast as possible. There’s the influencer/follower, who wants to be a trendsetter, to have the latest thing, but also does not want to be left out, so has the trend following tendencies too. Finally, there’s the relator or love bird, who is caring, loyal, open, wants to get to know you and wants you to get to know them. Doing a little research into these four personality types is well worth the investment for store associates who want to get each customer relationship off to a good start. For the store associate that wants to go the extra mile, the KIT Clienteling app is at your service.

For the dominator/rhino, KIT helps by providing a fast and clear view of what products are in stock, and what the purchasing options are for products not currently in store – especially helpful for new employees less familiar with the catalogue. For the influencer/follower, KIT helps store associates keep up to date regarding the best sellers and the latest deals. The thinker/owl can be handed a tablet running KIT and invited to take their time browsing a comprehensive catalogue of products, deals and purchasing options. Finally, the relator or lovebird, who may not buy anything on their first visit, will appreciate the value of having their profile set up on KIT, as an investment in their relationship.

With all customer personality types, setting up a profile on KIT and building an increasingly rounded picture of a customer, will help store associates both to maintain the relationship between visits to the store and during visits. As time goes by, more data recorded in KIT provides more insights into the best approach for each customer. Customers may have similar personality types that are important to understand, but individually they have different needs, product preferences, and purchasing habits and KIT helps you develop your understanding of those too.

KIT is currently in use by over 10,000 sales associates, in 64 countries and in 12 languages, and if you would like a demonstration to see how it could work for you, please call us on +44 203 691 2936, email info@instore.technology or complete the short form on our Contact page.